It didn’t take long for David Beckham and his young Manchester United team-mates to develop the habit of making rivals, opponents and pundits look a tad daft.
Beckham and his Class of 92 cohort were the propelling force behind the Red Devils’ 1995/96 Premier League title win, making a mockery of Match of the Day pundit Alan Hansen’s infamous ‘you can’t win anything with kids’ gambit at the start of that campaign.
Not only did Beckham and company win the Premier League, but they also completed the double by winning the FA Cup and it didn’t take long for the future England captain to write fresh headlines the following season.
Pallister on Beckham’s iconic Wimbledon goal
The opening day of the 1996/97 season saw Beckham – who ranked at no.14 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best Manchester United players ever – score one of the most iconic goals his career, when champions Manchester United arrived at Selhurst Park to take on Wimbledon.
With the Red Devils winning 2-0 towards the end of the game, Beckham, who had just turned 21, received a pass from Brian McClair inside his own half, looked up and let rip, with his audacious effort floating over the head of Dons stopper Neil Sullivan.
Gary Pallister was one of the Manchester United defenders who saw the action unfold in front of him that afternoon.
“When he hit it, I thought, ‘You cheeky bastard…’” laughs Pallister to FourFourTwo. “The ball was in the air and I was thinking, ‘The gaffer is going to kill him’.
“But it was floating and floating, I was watching the keeper struggling and thinking, ‘No… surely not?’ Then it landed in the back of the net!
“I could see the manager on the sideline, thinking, ‘I can’t have a go at him now that he’s scored!’ A wonderful piece of opportunism, and a brilliant technical piece of skill to see it, and to execute it.
“It was, ‘You cheeky bastard… oh, what a goal!’ That moment announced him on the big stage.”
That goal was the pick of the 12 that Beckham scored that season, with the team going on to successfully defend their title to make it four championships in the first five seasons of the Premier League.
